on this monday night, racist chant. fraternity members caught on tape spouting hate-filled slurs. tonight the outrage and swift punishment from their college. off the rails. the heart-stopping moment when an amtrak train collides with a truck sending cars flying off the track and dozens to the hospital. overshadowed. hillary clinton's speech, but not about her e-mail controversy. tonight pressure mounts for her to give answers. and baby saved. a toddler found trapped in a car wreck after 14 hours. the mysterious clue that led rescuers to her that they still can't explain. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news."

reporting tonight, lester holt. and good evening. coming off the 50th anniversary of the march on selma and a weekend in which so much of the nation's focus was on racial healing, what has played out at one of this nation's major universities may seem particularly galling. it centers on a video that has exploded across the internet. it captures members of a university of oklahoma fraternity chapter spewing a racist chant referencing lynching. the target was black students, but the hurt has been universal. on that campus tonight widespread condemnation of those on that video from other students and university officials who quickly moved to shut down the fraternity chapter behind it and launch an investigation. nbc's gabe gutierrez is on the story for us tonight. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ] >> reporter: the video first posted sunday has sparked national outrage. [ bleep ] >> reporter: now a second

recording from a different angle shows members of the fraternity sigma alpha epsilon or sae at the university of oklahoma chanting racial slurs. ou's president joined hundreds of students at a pre-dawn rally, many with tape across their mouths. >> it really hurts that we're still going through stuff like that and it just needs to stop. >> my jaw definitely dropped. >> reporter: naomi is with the african-american student group that first received the video through an anonymous message on twitter. >> a lot of people like to say this is post-racial america. we're not in post-racial america. and this is just a huge example. >> reporter: sae suspended the local chapter immediately. >> we were absolutely appalled and shocked at this video. and more so we were outraged that any member of the sigma alpha epsilon would think this is somehow acceptable. >> reporter: graffiti reading "tear it down" written on the sae house. and the fraternity's letters were removed.

all members ordered to move out by tomorrow. across campus heated debate about punishment. >> because i want this to be a rehabilitating time for us. >> reporter: the university's president did not mince words. >> take them out of here. they don't belong here. and i don't want them here. so i hope they do. i encourage them, i might even pay personal bus fare for them if they'd go somewhere else. just go. >> reporter: tonight, students are banding together under the #notonourcampus. and right now workers here are boarding up the windows of the fraternity house behind me. a top ou football recruit has just decommitted. and the university is investigating whether the students in that video may have violated the civil rights act, lester. >> gabe gutierrez tonight, thank you. the capitol building in wisconsin was also a focus of a major protest of the shooting death of a young unarmed biracial man at the hands of an white officer. hundreds of demonstrators, most of them students packed the

building claiming the incident is all too similar to other questionable fatal encounters with police. nbc's ron allen has the story for us from madison, wisconsin. >> reporter: madison's high school students had a real live civics lesson today, walking out of class, taking to the streets, demanding to know why tony robinson, 19, a recent high school grad was shot and killed friday night by officer max kenny, a 12-year police veteran. >> you can't just shoot like an innocent guy. >> reporter: police radio calls revealed some of what happened. reports of trouble at a gas station. >> we're looking for a male black, light skin tan jacket in teens, outside yelling and jumping in front of cars 19 years of age, name is tony robinson. >> reporter: police say officers followed robinson to a house across the street, forced his way in because of disturbance and opened fire when the suspect who police say was not armed assaulted the officer. the chief says the force is well-trained, educated and diverse.

>> it's only natural that questions and objections should arise. i get that. and i'm empathetic to that. >> reporter: robinson's family does not believe deadly force was necessary. >> our hands are stained with the blood of my nephew and we are all left to deal with the aftermath. >> reporter: now four straight days of demonstrations. they've been marching through the city now for a couple of hours, and they've almost reached their destination, the state capitol. finally, police estimate some 1500 people converged in the gleaming gleaming rotunda, one of the largest gatherings in the dome in years. >> like no one should have to die. >> reporter: today, madison's police chief apologized to robinson's family, but he stopped short of saying the officers did anything wrong or criminal. that question now is under the control under the auspices of state investigators because of wisconsin law, not the local

police. lester. >> ron allen tonight, thank you. you're about to see for yourself how a chilling accident played out in north carolina today when an amtrak passenger train collided with a truck and sent cars flying off the rails in what is at least the third major train accident of this kind this year alone. here's stephanie gosk now with more. >> reporter: a woman in a nearby car caught the actual moment of impact on her cell phone. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> reporter: an amtrak train traveling from charlotte to new york barrelled through a tractor-trailer in the middle of a railroad crossing. a bystander says the truck got stuck trying to make a turn before the crossing barriers came down. ted cammerota was on the train. >> we moved out of the way, it was almost like that sudden jerk or whiplash feeling you get in a car accident. much more intense. >> reporter: 212 passengers and 8 crew were on board. at least 40 people were taken to nearby hospitals. the accident comes roughly a month after a new york city commuter train slammed into an

suv killing the driver of the car and four train passengers. since then a 30-year-old woman was killed in silicon valley when her suv was hit by a commuter train. and hours later a metrolink train just outside of los angeles plowed into a truck. there are roughly 2,000 accidents at railroad crossings each year. last year 239 people were killed. none of today's injuries appear to be life threatening, what one witness calls a miracle. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. turning now to the race for 2016. pressure is mounting on hillary clinton to say more about why she opted to use a private e-mail account as opposed to government e-mail for her official business as secretary of state. so far she's only made a brief twitter reference. so when she spoke at a high-profile event here in new york today, there was anticipation she might address the elephant in the room. we get more from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: hillary clinton rolling out a major study on

women's inequality today but still ducking questions about the private e-mail system she used while secretary of state. will you explain the e-mail, secretary clinton? >> reporter: today's event was to build momentum toward announcing her candidacy next month, a campaign highlighting her as an advocate of women's rights ever since a speech in beijing 20 years ago. >> human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights, once and for all. today, two decades later it's clear, we're not there yet. >> reporter: instead, her big moment was overshadowed by the e-mail controversy. party leaders from the president on down are not rushing to her defense. >> yes, the president was aware of her e-mail address. he traded e-mails with her. that shouldn't be a surprise. but the president was not aware of the fact this was a personal e-mail server and that this was the e-mail address that she was using exclusively. >> reporter: also undercutting her women's rights message

millions of dollars saudi arabia and other countries that permit violence against women donated to her family foundation. bill clinton also with her today said saturday as long as the money is disclosed people can decide. >> i believe we've done a lot more good than harm. and i believe this is a good thing. >> reporter: but all the criticism has inflamed clinton partisans. >> there's always going to be a distraction in clinton land. there's never been a time when there is not. i've lived through this for 20 years. don't you think that next week there'll be some other thing that they'll crop up? and then they'll take it and they'll run with it. it's not going to ever change. >> reporter: despite the latest controversy, clinton holds an extraordinary 86% support among democratic primary voters in our new nbc news/"the wall street journal" poll. but party leaders worry about the way her circle has stonewalled, and they want her to clear this up. there are reports she'll try to do that in a press conference later this week. >> andrea mitchell, good to have you here tonight. thank you. with a deadline fast approaching with a nuclear deal

with iran, senate republicans did what they might call an end around. they wrote a letter directly to iranian leaders warning that any potential deal may not stick. now the white house is accusing the gop of interfering. nbc's peter alexander tells us more. >> reporter: in the oval office this afternoon president obama ridiculed senate republicans for reaching out to one of america's enemies. >> i think it's somewhat ironic to see some members of congress wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in iran. >> reporter: today, this letter signed by 47 republican senators was sent to leaders of the islamic republic of iran, but its message was directed at the white house. the letter patronizing iranian leaders for not understanding the u.s. constitution. and warns that any nuclear deal reached with the president and u.s. allies could be up done if it isn't approved by congress. the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen they wrote, and future congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.

>> this letter is about nothing more than stopping iran from getting a nuclear bomb. the united states and our allies cannot live with a nuclear iran. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview with nbc news last week, iran's foreign minister said he would not interfere in u.s. politics. >> i read the american constitution. i believe the executive has the prerogative over foreign policy and for any foreign government it has to be with the executive. that's the only way you can have international affairs. >> reporter: tonight zarif called the letter from republican senators a propaganda ploy. white house aides say it's the latest in a partisan strategy to undermine the president's ability to conduct foreign policy. lester. >> peter, thank you. jurors in the boston marathon bombing trial today got a look at video which prosecutors say shows the defendant red-handed planting a bomb at the scene while survivors of the terrorist attack gave some heart-wrenching testimony. nbc's pete williams was in the courtroom today. >> reporter: just after the second marathon explosion, the

fbi says video caught dzhokhar tsarnaev running away while firefighters rushed toward the blast scene to help. about 12 minutes before the bombings a surveillance camera mounted on this corner captured video of two men carrying backpacks. they were on the marathon route about 2 1/2 blocks from where the first bomb went off. jurors saw that video today as well as pictures that the fbi says shows tsarnaev at the site of the second bombing leaving just before the blast. among those killed a student from china, her close friend had to talk her into watching the marathon. severely wounded herself, she tearfully recalled waking in the hospital and saying, tell the nurse and doctors and everyone to look for her. and a cancer nurse jessica kenski said marathon day was the last time she did anything on two legs. both she and her newlywed husband patrick lost their left legs in the bombings. last month jessica gave doctors permission to remove her other

leg, also badly injured. i felt like i was on a rocket when the blast went off. and when she saw her husband on the ground, i thought he was going to bleed to death on the sidewalk. but dzhokhar tsarnaev barely an hour after running away from the bombing, the fbi says, was in a grocery store calmly buying milk. pete williams, nbc news, boston. there is other news to tell you about tonight. your credit and a change that could give consumers a fighting chance when inaccurate information torpedoes their credit rating. a poor credit score can sink your chances of getting everything from a car to a home to a job. fixing bad information can a journey through a bureaucratic maze. tonight, the biggest overhaul in a decade. nbc's tom costello explains. >> reporter: from car loans and credit card applications to rental agreements, home mortgages and employee background checks, our credit scores impact our personal finances every day. but what if our credit report is wrong? it happened to tom tupper whose credit score dropped nearly 50 points after his report stated he missed car payments on a car

he'd already sold. >> they wouldn't tell me who i could call. they wouldn't give me an address i could write to. the only thing i could do is call day after day and talk to these frontline people who i think, you know, really weren't trained to deal with this. >> reporter: it turns out one in five americans has a mistake on a credit report from either equifax, experian or transunion, most often the result of bad information, credit theft or fraud. but getting a mistake removed can be very difficult. >> the credit reporting system in america that we're addressing today suffers from inaccuracy and often from outright injustice. >> reporter: today, an agreement between the new york aeg and the three major reporting agencies requiring them to train employees to review consumers' claims and documents, to no longer include tickets or fines and a new six-month grace period before late medical bills are reported because insurance payments are often late. >> these new rules will allow

you to more proactively manage your credit. >> reporter: consumer advocates also recommend all americans check their credit scores at least once a year on the lookout for any inaccuracies. tom costello, nbc news, washington. still ahead tonight, a story that has a lot of us shaking our heads today about a baby trapped for hours in a car wreck. and then a mysterious call for help brings rescue. also, apple's next big thing is here. so what exactly does it do and will we want it?

now to that amazing story out of utah. firefighters say they heard a voice calling to them to the remote scene of a terrible car accident. inside the wreckage they found a baby who somehow survived for 14 hours after the car flipped over into a freezing river, but that voice that beckoned them to help rescuers still can't explain where it came from. nbc's miguel almaguer reports. >> there is one person in the vehicle. they don't appear to be moving. >> reporter: the call for help as a utah fisherman spots an overturned car just below a bridge. there was no sign of life in the mangled wreckage until rescuers heard the same voice. >> i heard someone said help me inside that car. i think it was what everybody said, we're trying. we're trying our best to get in there. >> reporter: four first responders scrambled into the freezing water, flipping the car on its side.

the driver, 25-year-old jennifer grossbeck died in the crash, but her 18-month-old daughter lily was somehow alive. >> i could tell her eyes were open. and i could tell there was life there. and just for that short period of time i had her in my arms, i got her unbuckled and then handed her off to lee. >> reporter: lily survived the unimaginable the vehicle resting on its roof. lily stayed strapped to her car seat upside down for 14 hours, inches above the water flowing through the car. >> we're coming 1039 with a possibly 2-year-old baby. >> reporter: tonight lily's condition is improving. here they call it a miracle. first responders say all along they were led to lily. >> it just seemed like a distinct voice to me. that's what i -- somebody saying help. >> reporter: a call for help that was answered. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> it is an incredible story. we'll be back in a moment. we get our hands on that new apple watch after this.

after months of rumors, speculation and hype, apple finally today unveiled the specs on the new device that it's betting we'll all be clamoring for, but questions remain whether there's actually a market for the new apple watch. our joe fryer takes a look. >> reporter: the task for apple, convincing people why they even need technology around their wrists. >> apple watch is the most personal device we have ever created. >> reporter: the tech giant showed how you can pay with the watch, use it as a hotel key, to hail an uber or board a plane. we spent a few minutes with the watch, which measured my heart rate. let's say you want to send a message to someone else who also has an apple watch. it's simple enough. you just script the message with your finger and send it. a few seconds later it shows up on the other person's watch exactly the way you wrote it. >> if there's simple things to do on it i think it will be a huge hit.

if not, you know, i think people will still buy it. >> reporter: the sports version starts at $349. the stainless steel model $549. and the 18 karat gold watch $10,000. with smart watches from other companies failing to become smash hits, apple's trying to bridge the gap between function and fashion putting a 12-page ad spread in "vogue" and today bringing out fashion model christy turlington burns. will that help? we'll have to wait and watch. joe fryer, nbc news, san francisco. so if you felt a little off today, you're not alone. the monday after we move the clocks forward is considered one of the most dangerous days of the year. researchers say there's often an uptick in heart attacks, workplace injuries and traffic accidents as our bodies get used to the sudden time shift. when we come back, soccer practices and pta meetings may not seem so bad after you see what these parents have to go through.

it's been said that kids seem to have busier schedules these days than we parents do. school, play dates, sports practice. add winter weather into the mix and it can feel so much harder to keep up. but we need only to look to nature to see that maybe things aren't so tough in our own nests after all.

nbc's harry smith now has the wild tale. >> reporter: if you think you have had a rough winter, check this out. a bald eagle in hanover, pennsylvania provides a perfect example of parental perseverance. deep in the nest are two eggs. no way, no how was that bird going to leave that spot. and to think ben franklin wanted the wild turkey to be our national symbol. no, as we've complained about too many snow days and the endless digging out of cars and driveways, across the country eagles have been fighting off cold, snow and pesky predators. in decorah, iowa one day it's an owl and another a raccoon. eagle parents divide the labor, both male and female take turns on the nest. and once you start watching, it's hard to stop. die-hard eagle cam viewers are called eagleholics. today when we checked the hanover nest it was sunny and quiet. the warmer weather brings hope the worst of winter is over. we'll start looking to see those

eggs hatch in about two weeks. harry smith, nbc news. >> puts it all in perspective, doesn't it? that's going to do it for us on this monday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. right now at 6:00 a blow for the 49ers a f the police arrest one of the team's top players. good eve. thanks for joining us. >> it's mess at 49ers head quarter. >> santa clara police released the details of the arrest of bruce miller. the running back arrested four days ago. >> the 49ers releasing a statement saying they're aware of matter they're disappointed and they'll collect all

information in this case. there's a shakeup on this team including the retarmt of patrick willis and rumors are swirling about three others that may not be returning. >> bay area's michelle roberts has fan reaction. but we're going to begin with gerald. >> reportedly patrick willis saved his money, done very well taking care of it and ready to walk away. the 49ers seem to be in the eye of the storm in terms of key players leaving, especially with the unexpected news of patrick willis retiring on tuesday. the former al-pro who missed last season is reportedly ready to call it quits at the young age of 30. the red and gold dealing with the possible retirement of justin smith and also h of course multiple reports that frank gore is out the door